An assembly offering the choice to consumers between two types of closure system for a wipes flexible container is disclosed.
Many types of household and personal care articles, such as dust cloths, wipes, wet wipes, facial cloths are commonly packaged inside flexible containers. In a typical flexible container for packaging such goods, a flexible pouch is formed of a flexible sheet material. Access into the interior of the pouch is typically provided by way of a dispensing opening in the sheet material.
The dispensing opening is typically closed by a flexible sealing member to prevent contamination and/or drying of the container content inside the pouch prior to use. The flexible sealing member is typically adhered to the pouch by means of an adhesive.
Some containers are outfitted with relatively rigid closure elements. A typical relatively rigid closure element includes two elements that interlock, such as a base that is adhered to the pouch and a lid, such as a hinged lid.
Consumers may prefer containers outfitted with a relatively rigid closure element. Indeed, such closure element may allow the user to easily close the container without the need to insert his/her fingers through the dispensing opening to push back in the container the uppermost wipe of the stack that may extend through and above the dispensing opening after the withdrawal of a former wipe, such as in a pop-up dispensing format. This easy closure may be appreciated in circumstances of use such as when a user whose one hand is occupied in a task, such as holding a baby during a diaper change, must use his or her free hand to close the container. The easy closure may also protect the wipes from external contaminations, e.g. soils, dirt and germs that may be present on the user's hands, by limiting the physical contact with the user's hands. In addition, reliability in the closure performance may also be appreciated. Indeed, the lid may be repeatedly opened and closed without any loss of performance. Such a loss of performance may occur with flexible sealing members: their adhesive surface performances may deteriorate by accumulation of dust and dirt. Notwithstanding all the above advantages, wipes flexible containers outfitted with a relatively rigid closure element are not yet a commodity. This may result, in part, of the negative impact they have on manufacturing costs. Indeed, the manufacturing costs of wipes containers are significantly increased by the provision of such closure system. Furthermore, they add complexity to the manufacturing process.
Some other consumers may still prefer wipes containers having a flexible sealing member. Indeed, some of them may choose to place the flexible container in a rigid box and so the presence of a relatively rigid closure element becomes irrelevant for them and may even prevent them from doing so. Some other consumers may simply prefer and choose to use the flexible container as it is.
Thus, consumers' preferences in terms of closure systems for wipes containers are different. So far, industrial did not find a way to satisfy each type of consumers without increasing significantly the manufacturing costs.
Thus, it is challenging to satisfy every consumer, e.g. consumers preferring containers with relatively rigid closure elements and consumers preferring containers with flexible sealing members and, not add substantial costs and complexity to the manufacturing of wipes containers.